Larry Rachleff prepares to conduct his last note with R.I. Philharmonic

Thursday

Apr 20, 2017 at 9:00 PM

He's retiring after 21 years as music director.

By Keith PowersSpecial to The Journal

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The end will come quietly. Larry Rachleff prefers it that way.

As the last gentle notes of Richard Strauss’ “Alpine Symphony” conclude Rachleff’s final performance on May 6, after 21 years as the music director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Rachleff says, “I hope there is a spiritual element that resonates — the one that should resonate after every concert.

“I like the idea of it ending in a non-flamboyant way,” he says of his tenure. “In that way, the ‘Alpine Symphony’ is a metaphor.”

Rachleff, 62, leaves the orchestra much, much better off than when he first took the podium in 1996. “It’s been a privilege and an honor,” he says, “and all of us can be proud.”

“Larry has led the orchestra through a period of remarkable growth,” says executive director David Beauchesne. “We’re not the same orchestra that we were 15 years ago, or 10 years ago, or five years ago. Just in the last four years we’ve grown the audience 44 percent, and we’ve balanced eight budgets in a row.”

When he’s asked to enumerate the positive changes that have taken place in two decades, Rachleff is quick to deflect attention to those people who have helped him. “The good management, and good board, have made it possible to do the artistic work. We’ve been able to weather the challenges that all orchestras face. And the very strong reaction, from the press and the public — all of that has helped us escalate the quality of the music.”

Specifically, growing the string section is one thing that has altered the orchestra’s sound. “Enlarging it certainly helped,” he says, “and adding a string rehearsal to our four regular rehearsals. That’s helped generate progress. They have the melody almost all the time, after all.

“But also gradually adding more work for the players — adding to the Classical Concert Series, and the Rush Hour Series.

“I can’t take credit for starting that,” he says of the now-popular Friday drive-time performances. “And for the first one of those concerts we were lucky to have more people in the audience than we did onstage. But it really has crescendoed — we had 1,600 people there Friday night,” he says, referring to the most recent Rush Hour performance.

The quality of soloists gracing the stage with the philharmonic is another point of pride — and another thing that Rachleff quickly points out preceded his coming to the orchestra.

“We’ve developed relationships with some of the great ones,” he says. “When Garrick [Ohlsson] was here this year, he said to me, ‘It’s good to be back again. I think it’s my fourth time here.’ It was only his second time with me.

He’s frank about the challenges the orchestra has faced. “One of the biggest problems for the orchestra is that it’s not full-time,” he says, “even though it plays at the level that 52-week orchestras would.

“It presents an ongoing situation, with fluctuating personnel. We have a good tenure system, and a leave plan, so that musicians can play in ... pops orchestras or in the ballet — that’s endemic in this situation. But I did grow weary of the changes — our personnel manager must hire five hundred musicians each year.

“Because we’re in the Route 95 corridor, we can still get great players as substitutes,” he says. “But it isn’t the same as developing people who are there all the time.”

Rachleff, 62, has balanced his position at the Rhode Island Philharmonic with his teaching position at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, near his home in Houston, for his entire term here. But it’s time to focus on his family life.

“The commuting has taken its toll,” he says. “I figured it out, and because of all the travel, I’ve missed four years of my son’s life.” He’s referring to his son Sam, who is 13 now, and Rachleff admits “that’s the main reason I’m leaving.

“I’ve never had ambition,” he says, “at least not with a capital A. I’ve never tried to turn this job into something else. And I’ve told my management just to accept one or two things in the future. Not a permanent position. I really just want to spend more time with my family, and that’s the truth. I need to be far less peripatetic.”

Another family member will be spending more time with him — soon, and in Rhode Island. Rachleff’s wife, mezzo Susan Lorette Dunn, will join him in his farewell concert, singing Canteloube's lushly romantic “Chants d’Auvergne.”

“I don’t feel like I’m retiring,” he says. “This chapter of my life is concluding. It’s certainly sad for me, but it’s a great opportunity for the orchestra to bring in a new voice and see what happens.”

— Keith Powers covers music and the arts for the GateHouse papers and WBUR’s The ARTery. On Twitter at @PowersKeith.